Diving near Irvine, CA?

[Hepcat62]

Hi all,

I'm currently a norcal resident, and do all my diving in the beautiful Monterey/Carmel area. I've got a really interesting job offer in Irvine, and I'm considering taking it. Since I've got my priorities straight though, I'm wondering...

What's the diving like within 1.5 hours of Irvine? Also - does anybody know of a good PADI dive shop in that area, with a solid instructional staff, where I might consider trying to DM?

Thanks!
Brian

 

[Teamcasa]

Both Laguna Beach and San Diego are within striking distance of Irvine.

Catalina (via Dana Point Ferry) is also close. You will not be disappointed in SoCal diving.

 

[USCScubaboy]

Laguna Beach is about 15-20 minutes by car.

In Irvine, Joe Liburdi has his shop (Joe Liburdi's Dive and Photo). Haven't taken a class from his shop but the service is great.

In Laguna, there's Laguna Sea Sports just up the hill from Shaw's Cove.

 

[ligersandtions]

There's TONS of great diving within an hour of Irvine, from PV to SD to the Channel Islands. Monterey is beautiful....socal is too. The diving is very similar (unless you're used to diving Lobos all the time, in which case our surf and vis will be worse....at least in-shore).

As for good PADI shops, I only know of one, and it's not within an hour of Irvine. There are lots of other PADI shops, but I can't speak for which ones are good and which ones are not....I only know the one shop...

When will you know if you're taking the job?

 

[stargost]

Irvine is very good. Laguna shore dive is 20minutes away. You can get to day charter to Catalina all the time, and Long beach is 30min away. Some more boats in San Pedro are 45min.
You can get to the Catalina island dive park through Newport beach or Long beach.

There are several dives clubs in the area as well. they usually meet once a month and dive almost every week-end from shore, + have some charter or even trips organized couple of time per year.

You also have many dive shops for fillings, from sport Chalet (4.5$) to others like indeed Liburdi's shop. Laguna has 2 filling places as well.

Overall, it is very convenient, and there are plenty of divers around here so you should be able to find a buddy anytime of the week-end or the week !



Edit: another thing: water was 58F last week-end, so you can even forget the drysuit ! Welcome to SoCal ;-)

 

[Hepcat62]

Thanks for the feedback everybody! Sounds like there are a lot of options for both boat and shore (my personal preference) diving near Irvine. Does anybody have a good site for pictures of what diving is like at Laguna (which seems really close)?

When will you know if you're taking the job?

I'm trying to make a decision sometime this week, which probably includes a short jaunt to Irvine to check out the area this weekend.

 

[ligersandtions]

Edit: another thing: water was 58F last week-end, so you can even forget the drysuit ! Welcome to SoCal ;-)

Hah, I wouldn't forget the drysuit! If you're doing more than one dive (or a long dive), 58F gets cold....hell, even 80F gets cold if you're doing enough


Trying to think if anyone's posted any pics from Laguna. I'll do a quick search sometime this afternoon and see if I can find anything. Laguna diving can be very beautiful....and there's almost always a protected cove or two. Vis generally isn't that great, with the average hanging around 10 feet, but that's plenty if you like to take it slow and look at everything.

 

[stargost]

If you are moving to Irvine, don't worry about the diving (btw, you can also dive the oil rigs, which are REALLY cool - check on youtube with Laguna diving - shaws cove diving, etc ...)

but first check if you'll enjoy the area - It is Orange County here
This would be a different subject though

 

[ligersandtions]

Here's a video....I haven't watched it since it was posted originally, so I don't really remember anything about it, but it might give you a decent idea of what's out there.

The diving around the area is great....but, like stargost mentioned, do make sure you like the area before committing

 

[scjoe]

I believe Laguna Sea Sports still has pictures of the Laguna Beach dive sites up. You could also try South Coast Divers and Pacific Wilderness. They have some site descriptions and pictures on their websites.